A Class submarines that were under
construction in the closing stages of World War 2 were involved in a
radical programme of modification in the early 1950s. The captured German
Type XXI U-boats, advanced for their time, provided a lot of inspiration
and enabled great strides forward in submarine design. The A Class had
been primarily designed for war in the Pacific and carried more fuel to
enable them to cover the vast distances in that theatre of war. Sixteen A
Class boats were built with most of them constructed by Vickers Armstrongs
at Barrow, although some were built at one or two other commercial yards
and one at Chatham Dockyard. The A boats lasted a long time in British
service, their subsequent substantial modernisations included removal of
their guns and external torpedo tubes, streamlining of the hull, a larger
conning tower and new sonars. They had increased battery power for
underwater speed and endurance and were also fitted with the Snorkel
breathing device, known as Snort in the Royal Navy.

In their final form, with a surface
speed of 20 knots and a submerged speed of 8 or 9 knots, the A Class
represented the archetypal post-war diesel-powered submarine. (Source: Submarine
1901-2001)

Set in the late 1950s, the painting
depicts HMS Andrew, which was the only boat to retain her gun after
modernisation, passing Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound as she makes for
the open sea. In the gathering dusk a destroyer heads for the Hamoaze in
the distance.

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